Baby
by lottawoman
Summary: Bella gives birth to Edwards worst nightmare. Can he save her or will Rosalie get what she's always wanted? Novella, rated M for images not suitable for anyone with a weak stomach. You've been warned.
1. Chapter 1

Baby…

My ears rang with a rush of heat and panic as my eyes searched wildly around the room seeing nothing and everything all at the same time. Washed trails of blood littered the floor, thick heavy brush strokes with careless disregard of the life draining from its owner as this beast fed upon them. I followed them path, the absence of a familiar beating heart telling me everything I needed to know, Charlie would not be saved. The echoing of his horrified screams as she snatched him from the doorway dragging him to his inescapable doom haunt me as I continue to hunt for them now.

This was inevitable, we'd defied the odds of my world and hers in brazened disregard and now the reaping had begun. In the seconds following the bloody birth of this creature, our daughter, my greatest nightmare had been realized. Bella was clawed and snatched away from me by a villain who hid in friendly shadow at her side as that thing grew inside her; swelling her belly like a rotting body at the bottom of a river bed

My brother confused and as betrayed as I was held me in place as we both watched her, Rosalie, jump through the open window and disappear into the night, fleeing to the guest house, the only plausible route with a dying mother and baby in tow.

Their scent pungent and heavy in the air made tracking them easy work. I can smell them, better than this I can hear them. Frantic quarter second drums of a new heart in sick contrast to the dull, hollowed sound of a heart beating far below life sustaining rhythm. An outbreak of bumps along my skin as I send my fingers through my hair helping me to steady my thoughts and tell me what I already know, I'm close and as I push open the door leading to the parlor a shift of shadows that would have gone undetected by human eyes is captured by my own as they dilate in the darkness.

I can't hear their thoughts, I'm not focused and it frustrates me. I don't know if its even possible that I should hear the thoughts of this thing, this vermin.

But the loss of my gift only serves to heighten my other demonic senses and my eyes dart quickly around the room immediately seeing what they want to keep hidden.

Rosalie, statued and muted in the corner just beyond the door, the sound of her calm, sure breaths give her away. She is crouched slightly, ready to pounce; I have seen her in this position often over the decades in joyous romps through endless forest for elk, deer and bears as we fed as family. Siblings bound by blood and pain and necessity, I love her, even as she sets in wait to kill me and all that I hold most dear.

I'd reasoned even as we all dispersed in pursuit of them, Rosalie's baron womb has made her psychotic, I knew the moment I'd bought Bella home with the tragic news of this pregnancy, and she aligned herself with a woman she'd essentially loathed, this would have a bitter end.

But she was more than psychotic, she was murderous. Killing at the demand of this things hunger and it sickened me, she had to be stopped.

I don't acknowledge her, but instead nervously swallow, moving deeper into the room, keeping up the façade.

But make no mistake, I am being ambushed and do not let the history of my love for Rosalie cloud my judgment, she will die tonight if that is how it must be.

The curtains billow away from the window as a gust of wind fills the room casting a ghostly white light over the solid shadow in the far corner. A heavy worn boot peeking out from the darkness leads me in its direction.

Excitement strains the tiny heart into a frenzy but it does not move, it is obedient as it's told in silent communication to keep still, stay hidden from me. I can feel its curiosity, its ferocious desire to move toward me from behind, my hairs stand on end as I kneel down releasing a slow sigh.

"Oh…Charlie."

His lifeless body lie thrown against the wall just beneath the window, the curtain cascades over him in eerie resemblance to a death shroud and the sickening smell of his spent decaying blood fill my senses clouding my purpose for being here.

Had she seen this happen?

Were the screams that sent me bursting through the house, hurling my body from room to room in search of her, so blood curdling because she'd witnessed this? The rabid, torture of her father as he died in screaming agony at the hands of something so ungodly I could hardly fashion a name for it.

This creature. This hybrid of human and hell which tweaked and hissed against the air at my back too young to realize my senses would detect even the most minute sound in the room had killed its grandfather. Quite possibly the only human contact it would ever have in its short life, its mother's wanted path concreted for her now. If I could just get to her.

I needed to end this, the span of seconds I could count between the beats of her heart told me I had very little time.

Resting my hand on Charlie's arm I pretend to check him, stalling for time, its fruitless and unnecessary, he is dead, but I hope the monster breathing into Rosalie's ear would dull her normally flawless skills of observation and Rosalie would be off her game, granting me this small moment of reprieve.

I've never been lucky, in human or my vampire life and as I close my eyes, hearing her shift her weight forward, the movement literally changing the frigid air of the room the cold of it rushing up my back.

She's on to me and I let out a breath and pivot in her direction, hoping my voice does not betray the course of something I had not felt in decades throughout my body.

Fear.

It was gripping the normal grace of my movements and making my voice halt as I called out to my wife, desperation evident as I move to stand.

"Bella?"

"She's feeding the baby Edward; you've come at a bad time."

My eyes narrowed and shoulders square as I am assaulted with an onslaught of senses and gifts all at once. The jargoned ramblings of a mind so new its words were fragmented and disjointed into a mess of sound and colors that echoed loud then faded too quickly for me to comprehend. On its heels was a steady stream of thoughts and images so evil my eyes began to sting as I received them.

_The slashing open of Charlie's throat a veined tiny orb of flesh covered human skull burying itself in the opening as it gushed with his blood, then lifting out to breathe as waves and spurts of red spattered against the distorted face, before bathing and lapping at the river of blood again. Charlie thrashing, his eyes widened in horror as his life seeped along the floor._

_Bella screaming, trying in futile effort to run from the room, red handprints, smeared on white as she reached for survival, stained the wall near the door and my eyes dart there quickly as the image is shown to me. Her screams instantly hushed with a violent smack of her head against the wall as Rosalie pulls her back from the door by the hair, her legs weak and collapsing under her as her bowels lay open, the creature, insatiable climbs into her lifeless lap nuzzling its abandoned home, its hands disappearing inside._

_Scattered and frenzied bites to the pale flesh of her thighs and arms, Rosalie tenderly caressing the ugly form to Bella's heaving chest, directing its hungry mouth to her neck whispering in sweet instruction where to feed on its mother, smiles of delight as it obeys with genius precision. Bella mouth hanging open in silent protest as her eyes go wide then dark as she faints into oblivion._

Shaken by the reel of memory, my face crumbles as my fists tighten and I scream in a voice I don't recognize, the sound of it literally shaking the walls around us and the heart of that thing pauses briefly as it scampers further up Rosalie's back, its wiry fingers burying themselves in her hair.

"Where is she!"

I'm met with laughter, sick and sarcastic laughter as Rosalie moves closer her voice lithe, her fingers reaching for the boney ones curling lovingly in her blond tresses as she smiles at me a dark threat as her eyes betray her true intentions.

"She's right here silly. I told you, she was feeding the baby."

Her arm, hidden until this moment moves and she delights in the look of my face as she drags Bella from behind her, the girth of her body collapsed and heavy on the floor while my sister grips the back of her neck pulling the flesh taut.

She lifts her slowly by the scruff, much like humans lift cats to paralyze them and I whimper as Bella dangles inches from the floor, her toes dripping thick zig zags of blood along the floor as she swings on display as Rosalie grins sadistically at me, arching her brows in question.

"Did you want her? I think we're done now anyway."

I can't think. My body sibilating as I growl, venom pouring and washing down my throat as the need to become lost in my own fury begins to overwhelm me. I can't see, the darkness of the room, of my thoughts and the pathological sadism of what has been done crashes around me and turns everything black threatening to envelope me.

I feel my mouth moving but hear nothing, a new onslaught of images rushing through my head, forcing a wave of nausea to push against my stomach, simultaneously pushing the blackness away.

_Bella begging for her life in quiet pleas, her eyes focused on Rosalie, on the thing taunting her as it splayed its hand over her cheek, fingers caressing her in what could only be described as curiosity._

_Bella shaken to life as she's snatched and thrown into the wall the sound of my thunderous steps and cries filling my mind as they did the owner of the memories ears._

My voice crackles as the frame of my body, on its own contorts into a menacing stance and I reach out my hand offering only one possibility to avoid my wrath. I am primal, the endings of my nerves rejoice as they schism and spark with untapped animalistic electricity.

"Give her to me Rosalie."

The creature, my child, lifts its alien head over her shoulder, its gaping hollow eyes stare at me, absorbing my stance, the tremble of my voice and it tilts its head like a curious dog and touches Rosalie's face, never taking its eyes from me, fear seeming to register as it ducks lower, merely peeking at me now. Her eyes grow bored and hooded as she nods, looking at Bella when she makes the faintest sound before answering.

"Yes, that's your father."

Before I realize it my hand has crushed a hole in the floor below me, shards of marble turn to dust between my fingers as I prepare to launch at her, Bella's heart lulling a thump in my ears.

"ROSALIE. NOW!"

And with that she's thrown in my direction, in a blur of nothing the curtains wave and drift out the window as Rosalie makes her escape just as I catch my Bella her body bankrupt and lifeless.

I want to cry.

I want to scream.

I want to go after them and kill.

I want so many things in this moment, but nothing more than for her to open her eyes and in her state that is impossible.

The realization is clear and vivid, much like the images still holding residue in my mind of her life being drained from her.

In order to give her life, I had to finish what they started.

With a strangled cry I ran from the room, rushing out into the cold night toward the main house.

"Carlise! Help!"


	2. Rebirth

**A/N:** Okay, I'm very proud of myself second chapter up in less than six hours after the first. Yay me! Again, there are themes in this story that I don't normally venture into, but, in the spirit of Halloween I felt like being a little spooky. This chapter of the Novella is to move the story along, it's a little longer than the first (not by much) but has less blood and gore. That's good huh?

Third and final chapter should be up by tomorrow.

As always, please send me some love, I don't get nearly enough and review.

Thanks so much for reading.

Enjoy!

**Baby: Rebirth**

I could count five seconds between heart beats, five seconds until the edentulated sound of her heart nearly sparked my long deceased one to life again. My fingers tangled and fisted my hair for the thousandth time as Carlise sped in and out of the room, gathering items without explanation an array of medical whatnots littering the empty spaces around her, the rest of us catatonic as we stared at her dying on the dining room table.

The faint sound of Esme and Alice whimpering through tearless cries resonated in the room adding appropriate melody to this morbid occasion, a soundtrack to the slow decay of my mind. I was going to lose it soon, even as the tread of Jaspers gift clung and pulled at the state of my emotions I could not be reeled in. I felt myself fighting against him, wanting to fall over the edge the closer the seconds ticked away.

Emmett paced restlessly somewhere in the house and Jacob hovered between and around us all, his large hulking presence making me anxious and guilty as I read his thoughts. Accusing me, taunting me with declarations of just how unworthy we all were of her, he was right, look at her.

Jasper touched my shoulder, dulling the pathoscopic depth of my pain before it swallowed me whole, I was losing all hope as my count reached five again and her heart gave a stuttered thump once more. Carlise pressed his hands to the table, his fingers splayed wide as he looked her over, his loss for what he could possibly do evident on his face as he took all of her in sighing then turned his eyes to me.

"Edward, I don't know if this will work. She's so…she's so far gone son."

I shook my head my hand closing around hers and squeezing tight as I looked on him, anguish pulling my already unyielding skin so taut my lifeless veins appeared to crack the surface.

"No, she has a heart beat. You have to try!"

"Edward…"

"No!"

I stood, the chair flinging across the room as I slammed my hand down and through the table the surface, audible gasps from everyone filled the room as Bella's body shook with the aftershock of my unhinged anger. Carlise looked down at his hands, my outburst not seeming to affect him at all until I watched his brows knit together in both sorrow and contemplation. I was trembled with anger and as Jasper's graceful, calming tentacles wrapped around me I cried out spinning around and pushing him recklessly. Holding onto his shirt I followed the inertia of my own rage and slammed him against the wall, bearing my teeth as I growled and screamed into his body.

"Fuuuuuuck! Stop it! I want to hate!"

They all rushed around me as I threw him aside and moved back to her, my back heaving as I lay my head on hers, holding her hand as my body continued to quake and shudder with something so catastrophic I felt it would split me open.

I squeezed her hand again, my cold tips tracing the bluing lines of her palm and I coughed needing to cry, hating the truth that I could not truly release these emotions in anything less than rage.

"Please, please, please, please, please…."

I chanted, I had no right to wish, to hope, to pray, I wasn't even welcomed in God's house, my soulless vessel could and would only be received in hell, the harsh penalty of my immortality. I welcomed it.

Just as I pressed a soft kiss to her lifeline, her fingers twitched and caressed my jaw, her thumb brushing back and forth under my chin and I took in a sharp breath, my voice hitching as I spoke.

"Bella?"

I looked at her, her eyes shifting once under the thin skin of her lids and my stomach jolted as I watched tiny flutters of life tell me all I needed to know. She could be saved.

I looked at Carlise who was watching me closely waiting for the next wave of tantrum to wash through the room.

"Did you see that?"

His eyes brows lifted and he shifted toward her, leaning over as he scanned her and his lips pressed together, searching for what I knew was there. But when his eyes met mine they didn't understand, he shook his head telling me as much.

"Edward she's alive, just barely, I don't know what you saw but, I don't know how to precede son. I suppose we…I, could just…bite her. I'm still so unsure how much venom is necessary to change her Edward."

He didn't understand and it didn't matter, I was already making up my mind what needed to be done the details of it etching themselves in solid lists in my head. I would save her; I would give her what she wanted most. I would change her and make her mine forever.

"No…I'll do it. Just…leave us. All of you."

"Edward, that's not…I should stay, in case something goes wrong." Carlise was pleading with me, his eyes implored me to be reasonable and I knew he was right. I'd never changed anyone and he was my birth father, stealing my life to give me a new one and I needed his experience now. If for no other reason than to make sure the aftermath was what it should be.

I gave a curt nod and pressed my lips to the inside of her wrists feeling the veins strain to push the thinned blood through with the slowed pump of her heart. Esme kissed my temple and squeezed my shoulder as Alice raked her fingers through my hair, turning toward her slightly she gave me a small nod, her pupils dilating as for the first time in the fog of this horrible day she allowed the images of her vision to filter into my mind.

_Bella, stretched and agile like a feline leaped and ran across a wide span of grass as I chased her barely able to keep up._

"Alice…thank you."

Her lips curl in a slow but sad smile as she slipped her hand into Jasper's who was still threading his stretched fingers around my body, no longer protesting I looked in his eyes as his curious ones left Alice's to acknowledge my silent apology. With a nod he left the room, murmurs of questions filled the hall as they made their way downstairs.

Carlise watched me for what seemed like an eternity as Bella lay wasting on the table, I pressed my lips together silently questioning him and when that wasn't enough I spoke the words out loud.

"We don't have a lot of time Carlise. What do I do?"

He let go of a breath then sat opposite of me his eyes still looking her over he nodded leaning forward.

"Just, take her Edward. The wrist you're holding now should be sufficient; it has a direct conduit of blood flow to the heart. There's very little blood left, it shouldn't take much."

I nod in quiet understanding, my thumb rubbing gently over the thick bluish skin, her pulse seemed to grow stronger under my touch. I pressed my lips there, my eyes lifting to Carlise's for any sign that I might be making a mistake before I allowed the venom to pool in my mouth.

The hunger for human blood sending torrential floods of poison into the pads of my cheeks and swelling the sponge beneath my tongue forcing some of the liquid to spill over and down my chin.

My chest rumble at the first prick of her skin, a low moan coming from her as I pierce her body and sink further inside. The venom charging forward as the syrup of her blood courses through the porous channels of my teeth filling my gums before slithering down my throat in brilliant waves of euphoria.

I can feel her old life fading away and a new one restoring her as venom pushed into her veins plumping them to "life" again, her skin twitched in droves as the clear poison coursed its way through her body. Paling her skin, natural blush dulled by the loss of blood, now vanished, replaced by dark hues of purple and blue.

I moaned, wrapping my arms around her bicep, pressing her thin arm against my chest as my teeth sink further, the frenzy beginning.

"Edward!"

His fingers snatched against my scalp, pulling me back violently as he held onto her arm, the remnants of the last drips of blood rolling lazily down the inside of her forearm.

My eyes were wild, I could feel them jilting from side to side as the blood filled my senses making everything around me come to life. Breathing heavily I watched as Carlise hovered over her, protecting her stilled body as his eyes narrowed and set on me.

I could only imagine what I looked like, the fire of human blood ravaging my senses making them more acute, keen. I could hear the thoughts of a hitch hiker on a highway nearly thirty miles from our home, smell the pungent stench of Jacob as he paced the edge of the woods for Rosalie. Alice's vivid recall of Bella chasing something through the woods with an agility I could only hope to witness.

"Edward."

His voice was curious now, tentative at he watched me with softened eyes, remnants of my normal self pushing through to the surface as I clenched my fists for a brief moment before reaching for her hand. I gave him a nod, still distracted by the tenacious electricity of her blood moving through me, but focused. I needed to know she would be alright.

"I'm fine."

My glassy, wide eyes met his as he eased back into his chair running his fingers through his hair in a move that mirrored my own. Then he shrugged, looking her over again the gesture made him look boyish, not like the confident man I'd known all my immortal life.

"Now what?"

"Now Edward…we wait."

He reached for the hand closest to him and leaned forward watching the smooth skin of her face as she already turned porcelain white. Seconds passed as her transformation washed over her body, the jagged, torn flesh of her bowels laced together then fused seamlessly beneath the shredded of fabric covering her torso. Tiny half moons where monstrous teeth scared the flesh at her neck and arms healed in blinks, I could hardly take it all in even as my eyes renewed with the delicacy of human blood watched over her metamorphosis.

Carlise's curious eyes caught mine, our brows arched and waiting for the thrashing to begin. He leaned up his face inches from hers watching for a moment then sitting back down looking over at me again, then back to her.

Waiting.

Her body quivered in a subtle wave and our eyes connected again, bracing for the worse, but other than a slight arch to her back she settled down, her lungs sighing out the last remnants of life sustaining breath.

He shook his head, marveling as he bit into his own lip.

"She should be in agony. I don't know what went wrong."

His words instantly worrying me, I leaned over her just as he had, turning my head listening for any signs human life. Knitting my brows I looked over at my father, shaking my head.

"She's changing, I can see it in her skin, I don't smell her blood any longer…maybe we should…"

My words were lost amongst the harrowing sound of her screams as they pierced the silence of the house. Her body bowed and stretched high above the table in a contortion that would have splintered her human spine as the crown of her head pressed hard against the table in parallel to her bare bloodied toes that pointed firm on the surface, her feet in exaggerated arches that wrinkled the muddied soles. Her arms flattened out to her sides, jutting through the air toward both of us as she continued to shatter the walls with her agonizing screams of pain.

The sound of it threw me back against my chair, Carlise held his chest briefly before sprinting into physician mode, trying in vain to restrain her limbs and ease her body against the table.

"Edward! Help me!"

I was lost, drowning in the torturous cries as they pitched higher, curdling my blood, the resounding crack of her spine as the vertebra gave way under the strain of her hyper- extension and snapped in a synchronized chorus of pops that sickened me.

And I heaved, turning to the side as venom choked in my throat and coughed out of my mouth spattering and staining the floor.

"Son!"

I shook as I moved to stand, positive I would not be of any real help I wrapped my arms around her legs trying to pull her in opposite direction. She screamed louder at my touch then slammed her body down on her own thudding to the table top with a tremendous smack before going instantly limp.

We both watched her, his eyes squinting in curiosity as his chest lifted and lowered with rushed breaths, I was not breathing at all, my eyes flickering for any signs of that cataclysmic display of misery in selfish need to just not experience it again.

Minutes passed before either of us thought it safe enough to speak. I raked my hand over my face as I flopped into my chair, Carlise leaning over her; endless, silent questions unmasked as he gazed at her now still form.

"She looks like she's sleeping…remarkable."


	3. Chapter 3

**Okay guys, first I'd like to apologize to those of you reading these stories. I had a terrible back injury that I will eventually need surgery for a fusion of vertebrae and all that good stuff so I can walk. Fun stuff.**

**I've not been able to sit up at all this past month and therefore, no updates. This one was pretty much complete I just had to tweak it, I'm positive there are some errors and since my lovely beta Alys has probably abandoned me (and rightfully so) and I'm far too lazy to do the corrections myself…they're all still there. Sorry, but yeah…back…hurt…ow.**

**I'm getting my laptop worked on so hopefully I'll be able to update from bed, but until then…be kind, keep reading and know that if I could this shite would totally be done right now.**

**Baby…**

**Chapter Four:**

Two days moved forward without change, we watch her in stages, me never leaving the room while the others watch me watch her in rotation. I read sporadic updates from their thoughts, Rosalie is in Port Angeles, they are suspicious of unexplained deaths in the small city, Carlise asks Alice to guard her mind when a new wave of fury from me is detected by Jasper and successfully remedied by his gift.

I allow it, I am tired and right now my wife is my only concern. Rosalie and that creature will die but not until I am positive Bella is okay. She hasn't moved since her last terrifying outburst and aside from the low moans coming from her now there are no other indications that she is in any pain a fact that still baffles Carlise during his watch.

I smile softly at him as he leans closer to her face, the pads of his fingers press gently into her new flesh then quickly jot notes in the notebook he's kept in his pocket from the moment I bit her. I chuckle low getting up to lean over her as well, wanting to see what interests him so. Offering me an embarrassed smirk, her rakes his hand through his hair and stands upright, rubbing the back of his neck.

"She's remarkable Edward. I've never seen or heard of a new born accepting their transformation with such…" He shakes his head as he searches for an appropriate word, I smile, nodding as I sit again taking her hand whispering.

"Grace." Our eyes meet and he smiles more, nodding as he rounds the table to sit next to me.

"Exactly. You know, I think it might be okay to move her to a more comfortable setting, your bedroom perhaps? I don't know if it will make much of a difference to Bella, but…you might appreciate the privacy."

"And a bath…she would like that, she so loves her human moments. I doubt she'll give them up even without the necessity."

Squeezing my shoulder as he stands, turning to leave the room, his voice is cautious in my mind and if I were able to blush I would have at his hesitation.

_I'll ask Esme to prepare for her._

"No…Carlise, I'll take care of her, we've….that is, I've seen…all of her. I can bathe her, she's my wife."

I look down, squeezing her hand to distract from my own embarrassment, I don't see his smile but I know he offers it and once I hear the door close I sigh speaking softly to her.

"Well, that wasn't embarrassing at all."

Her eyelids flicker in response to my voice or at least I imagine that to be the reason as I press a soft kiss to her lips before scooping her into my arms and carrying her out of the room.

I can feel the bind they've placed on their minds tighten as I make my way down the hall, Jaspers fingers stretch and spiral around me, touching the outer parts of me testing my emotional state before releasing his hold. He quietly apologizes in my mind and I don't respond. I understand, just 48 hours ago I was volatile, crazed.

_Edward…I wondered if once you've settled Bella you would join us in the living room? Just for a moment?_

I speak my answer softly as I ascend the stairs, cradling Bella closer to me her body stirring with each movement.

"Yes, Esme…give me an hour, I'll be down then."

_Thank you…how is she?_

My jaws tighten as I grind my teeth turning down toward my room not finding words adequate enough to convey how disconnected I feel from an answer to that question. I don't know and it pains me to even entertain the thought of what she will be once she awakens from this life ending slumber.

I don't' know what I'll see in her eyes. Her blush will be gone, the telltale halt in her breathing, in her voice will be replaced with ravenous insanity and for the first time in my afterlife I want to respond to Esme with disrespect, with anger, with sarcasm. I want to scream _how the fuck should I know _and throw things. But instead I close the door to my room in silence and ready my wife for a bath.

I run the water after laying her on my bed and feel myself beginning to breakdown again as I undressed and lay her body in the warm water. I close my eyes, feeling my way around the surface of her skin, the changes already evident in my touch, but in my mind, she is warm the flush of her skin is vibrant in the darkness and I savor it, feeling sanity drape slowly around me again the warmth of my brothers arms easing me back from the brink once again.

Her words are kind, gentle in my mind as only Esme can offer, her eternal optimism somehow makes how psychotic I feel dissipate and I just want to bask in the sound of her voice.

_If thou must love me, let it be for naught except for love's sake only. Do not say "I love her for her smile, her love, her way of speaking gently, for a trick of thought that falls in well with mine and certes bought a sense of ease on such a day."_

_For these things, in themselves, beloved, may be changed, or changed for thee, and love, so wrought, may be unwrought so. Neither love me fore thine own dear pity's, wiping my cheek dry. A creature might forget to weep, who bore thy comfort long and lose thy love thereby. But love me for love's sake, that evermore thou may'st love on through love's eternity. _

I spoke softly as I lay Bella naked body along the bed and pulled the covers over her, the meaning behind the poem not lost on me, as I allowed each line to unravel around me, my fitful mind quieted, letting me breathe.

"Esme?"

_Yes…_

"Thank you."

Her response was silence, but I knew she was smiling. Warmth surrounded me, easing the tension in my shoulders, and when the curve of my spine gave way to relief I could feel Jasper pushing her love up the stairs, encasing me in it. I thanked him too before climbing in beside my wife, feeling her body tremble silently; molding my body around her, needing to feel something anything that would allow me to the forget images I knew were now just as much a part of me as the venom coursing through my dead veins now.

In the years following our change Esme was and has remained the first woman outside of my human family, I'd ever loved. She was kind, maternal and so incredibly soft and understanding that it was impossible not to absorb her into me, become forever loyal and in love with her as only a son to a mother could.

On long nights when Carlise worked we would walk the streets of Paris, London and Venice arm and arm regaling stories of our lives past, our dreams. She would recite poetry in her soft voice and I would play her music at every free piano I could find. She was who I compared beauty to, who I sought understanding and clarity where women were concerned. And I valued our relationship, for the longest time it was all I had as a reminder of my human self. I was gentle around her, kind; I understood how fragile humanity was and through her became determined to preserve it.

Yes, Carlise's introduction to our lifestyle is what has fostered my diet, but, Esme helped me understand the importance of our steadfast dedication to it.

"_We have such power Edward, it can never be used to destroy the beauty that surrounds us, each heart beating is a reminder that God exists, we must never silence it, we must celebrate it…always."_

Those were her words to me upon my prodigal return after decades of feasting on human lives I'd deemed unworthy of living. I was wrong and my shameful betrayal of everything Carlise taught me after my birth was difficult to recover from, but Esme as always was there. With love, with honesty, with forgiveness.

I'd betrayed those words once again and had every intention on repeating the offense with sadistic enthusiasm soon, with my own child no less. Images of that rabid, blood lustful monster pushed the serenity of warmth from my body, replacing it with fire that coiled in my veins tightening my muscles as Bella drew closer to me as if joining in on my virgining anger. She moaned low in her throat, a soft sheen of sweat misting on the surface of her skin, the last remnants of her humanity, the venom disposing all traces of her human self.

Kissing her forehead softly I ease from the bed, needing to move as disgust twitches beneath my skin, vivid, animated memories of Rosalie and that thing leaping from the window over Charlie's lifeless body filling my mind.

Raking my hand over my face I want to scream as I contemplate telling Bella how her father died. She won't remember; the agony of hunger will replace everything she's ever loved for years and when the crushing reality returns…

She will hate me.

She will hate what we are and what I've forced her to be.

She will leave me.

"Fuck!"

"Edward…"

A rasp, the tiniest of voices lulls against my scream and I gasp and turn around my eyes focused on her as my mind struggles to catch up and focus on what cannot be true. She could not have whispered my name, it's too soon.

Leaning closer as I caress her cheek, my thumb rubbing softly back and forth for any sign that she's stirred. But she is as still as she was moments ago, the soft moaning that pulls at her pale lips still the only sound.

I lean in more.

"Bella?"

Nothing, but I still watch for longer than I realize. The gentle call of Esme's voice in my head the only thing capable of pulling me back.

_Edward…you're quite upset. Please come down?_

I respond quietly, my eyes trained on her lips not willing to miss the evidence of what my rational mind continues to deny as a possibility.

"I heard her…she called my name."

_What?_

It was rhetorical; I could already hear the low murmurs between them all and closed my eyes finally when Carlise's stoic voice entered my thoughts.

_That is…not possible Edward. Please, may we see you, for a moment, there are so many things to discuss._

He's right. I know he's right but watch her nonetheless as I back out of the room, slowly letting it go as I make my way down the stairs. As I enter the living room all but Emmett stand, he is instead slumped pitifully into the chaise staring out the window. Jaspers gift takes hold of me and I shake my head, glaring at him.

"Stop it…please. I'm holding it together as much as I can…just, let me feel."

"I'm sorry. There's just so much to control Edward…you are…" Alice takes his hand as he searches for the right word and I take a seat, running my fingers through my hair before interrupting his thoughts, speaking to all of them, needing to get down to work.

"I know…just for now, it needs to feel real or I won't do what I know is right. Where is she…Rosalie and…the…child?"

When silence fell over the room, I tried to taste their thoughts. One by one misted images of things I already knew filled my mind and I sighed. They were still guarding themselves against me and anger swelled, their perceived loyalty to this…soulless bitch and murderer fueling the surge of fury inside me I pressed my fingers into my eyes, steadying my voice as best I could.

"I will kill her. As sure as I will kill any of you who get in the way of that fact..."

"Edward we're not…" Alice's sweet, remorse filled voice is eclipsed by my own, in such horrible contrast to her. I can feel each of them flinch at the sheer volume of the words as every muscle holds tense, steadying my body as hatred spills from my lips.

"Then why are you hiding from me! All of you…protecting her!"

"Edward…please if you would…"

I turn to Esme, reaching out to her mind again and as I feel her strain to keep her thoughts from me I spiral out of control, the betrayal I feel in that moment so monumental I ache to hurt them all. To pound them each into dust with my fists and my chest vibrates with a low hateful growl as I stand, stalking closer, offering them all a silent chance to change the course of things. Hoping that even in their treachery, they release themselves to me so I feel whole and loved and connected to them.

Nothing.

And as Esme reaches out to touch me, her voice apologizing gently in my thoughts I slap her hand away in disgust and am nearly delighted at the sadness that fills her eyes. She of all people has hurt me? She, my mother has turn her back on me for….

My movements are a blur even to myself, the whining sound of wood bending to its brink then splitting as the couch is hurled through the air and slams against the wall, splintering onto the floor is barely allowed to register before I scream out the pain of their deception in a whirlwind of anger destroying everything in my path.

"Edward! Edward please!"

My knuckles sting as they collide with the steel of Carlise's jaw and I cry out, needing my fingers to dig beneath his skin and claw his mind free. I hate him for this and tell him so over and over again, the sound wrenching from my body so loud I can feel the floor vibrate beneath me as strong arms cage me against it.

His voice is low, it is as pain filled and deceived as mine and as I look into his eyes it is like staring into a mirror. The suffering, the misery is tangible in the amber pools so deep against the thin purpling skin that surrounds them.

"Stop it Edward…just…stop."

Both of his massive hands hold my head in place as I thrash, the weight of his body finally calming me as his voice, so hurt, so tired fills the space around me.

"I'll tell you."

And with that he closed his eyes as my starved ones widened the binds on his mind releasing a flourish of images to me so fast I shook my head with effort to focus.

_Newspapers spread over the coffee table, headlines recounting recent murders, the mutilated body of a woman found in a dumpster behind a Safeway in Port Angeles, the hollowed remains of a man located in the state park._

_Running, leaping from tree to tree, the stench of wolves rising in the air, cutting the crisp scent of evergreen and pine as he races through the tree tops, his throat clenching as it fills with her fragrance and he moves faster, branches crushing against his hands as he hurls himself from one to another._

"_Rosey! Please…don't do this! PLEASE!"_

_A clearing, the back of a red coated wolf, Jacob; raised high as he digs his hind feet into the ground, ready to pounce as the others charge up behind him. Chest straining as he runs toward her, blonde hair wild and thrown into her face as she spins suddenly the move revealing a smaller figure springing down at her side crouched low to the ground bearing its teeth in his direction. It is a small child, no more than two, long chocolate curls cascade down and over her shoulders. She is terrifyingly precise in her movements as she leaps without warning, her tiny fingers ripping easily through his hardened skin forcing a painful yelp to rise in his throat._

"_Rosalie!"_

"_NO! Not him!"_

_The child struggles to restrain her attack, her chubby fingers still dripping with his blood over his face as she reluctantly obeys and with a sickening hiss glares down into his eyes, her own caramel and bright with excitement. She grins wide, her teeth jagged and sharp as she savors the look of wonder and surprise covering his face. He lifts his head closer, examining her in the brevity of the moment; she is monstrous…but angelic simultaneously. Her cheeks flushed pink like a child in need of a warm sweater, her eyes are playful, delighted as if this moment were Christmas morning and before he has time to think he reaches out to touch her, the sweet drum of her heart so alluring he forgets himself. _

_Reality bursting forth as pain grips him, her snarling mouth flooding with his blood and the acidity of his venom as she sinks her teeth into his wrist, feasting on him before being called away to rejoins her partner in battle, the ground beginning to rumble with the heavy gallop of the wolves approach._

_He rises, his wounds stinging as he watches them in a daze retreat to the woods, the wolves snarl as they pass him, grass and dirt kicking up under the weight of their feet. He watches as his love, eyes crimson and lost offer him one last glance before disappearing into a sea of green._

"Emmett…I'm, so sorry."

He says nothing, instead he leans back against the over turned chiffonier, rubbing both hands against his face, the healing wound along his wrist visible as he lets his arms drop to the side in defeat.

"It doesn't matter…you're right. They have to be stopped, I just…I don't know if I can help Edward. I love her and she's…she's undone, I don't know how else to explain any of this shit."

We sat in silence for what felt like forever, Alice allowing me to see the fragments that were already decided by Rosalie, she was going to kill again. She was enamored with the child, that beast and would do anything it desired and right now, it wanted more blood, more flesh and would not be stopped.

"So what do we do? Please tell me in all this time there is some sort of plan…what are Sam and Jacob saying?

"They are patrolling the woods; the treaty for now has been set aside Edward and we are all taking turns to track them both. Jasper and I go out tonight."

"I'm going with you Carlise. I have to…see for myself. The image of her…it…from Emmett was…"

He sighed, closing his eyes as he reached for me resting his hand on my shoulder.

"I know…there is not another creature in existence. We, I don't know what to do, she appears to be extremely powerful."

"And growing quickly…Carlise, she's the size of a toddler at two days old. There has to be some precedent, something."

"There isn't, I've looked in all the places I know son. But, she's flesh, she has a heartbeat against us that is always a disadvantage. Jasper and I were discussing it earlier and…"

The stairs creaked and my stomach plummeted with the sound of it, without turning around I knew she was there, I could feel her. The sweetness of her nervous, anxious energy permeated the room like the smoldering ember of an incense, it was all around me. Swirling smoke of confusion and love and something else I couldn't place but was completely intoxicated by its force.

"Edward?"

Her voice lifted like a melody in the air, so unbound by human frailty that it filtered through my skin, took residence in the stream of mixture blood and venom sloshing through my veins.

I heard the others take her in, they gasped as unguarded visions of her pale skin glistening with newness in their memories, her hair hung heavy in a curtain of satin along her arms, the white sheet she held against her naked body washing away making their thoughts of her haunting in their beauty.

And I swallowed air as she called me again, slowing turning to face the most beautiful vision in my world.

Her eyes flickered around the room, pulling the sheet tighter under her arms as we all approached her, Esme and Alice's thoughts a strange combination of excitement and despair.

Before I could reach her Carlise was close and examining her, his voice low and unalarmed but his thoughts were frantic, disbelieving.

"Bella…you're awake…and so soon. How are you feeling?"

His eyes were trained on her, but the question was for Jasper who was already at work, his face fitful and confused. She watched me with an odd look of serenity as if waiting for the preliminary examination to be over already away it needed to happen.

"I'm fine. Edward…"

Holding the sheet with one hand she reached the other out to me, Jasper exchanged a frustrated look with Carlise before moving back taking Alice's hand, his warm swirling around me slowly, ebbing as I took steps closer a low moan leaving my throat as her fingers curled around mine.

Warm. Unbelievably warm.

My body trembled violently as I stepped even closer and our arms enveloping one another in a slow deprived embrace. We held each other tight with a longing that could not be described in words.

Her flowery breath eased along my neck and shoulder as she buried her face there as I groaned deep in my body and held her closer to me.

"Bella. My god you're…amazing."

I could feel her smile against my skin, her lips plush heated on my neck and I smiled in return smothering my face in her hair.

We stood holding each other a long moment before I felt her body tense, her fingers that were drifting gently through my hair halted, fisting the strands and I felt her throat shift against my shoulder as she swallowed hard.

"Bella?"

Her body trembled and she turned her head slow, deliberate in the direction of my brother, who of all of us who gathered to greet her into her new life stayed slumped in his spot against the floor.

"Bella…what is it?"

Warmth spooled around me then tangled through the air reaching for her as she stepped away from me closer to him, Jasper following her movements his forehead creased with his efforts to ease whatever turmoil was brewing inside her.

Emmett, rest his head back against the solid underside of the furniture closing his eyes as she neared him, kneeling down her face so close to his a flood of jealously shifted inside me and was successfully washed away by Jasper.

She took in a long deep breath, the tip of her nose easing along his skin languid, threatening. When she spoke again the sound was vicious and wicked in its calm, Emmett took in a short breath opening his eyes only to stare out at our collectively astonished faces.

"I can smell that cuttroat bitch on you…where is she?"


End file.
